


Springtime at Solstice

by RoseisaRoseisaRose



Series: Fluffcember 2020 [7]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Drabble, F/F, Fluffcember 2020, Mercedes owns a terrifying amount of hairbrushes, but ingrid's definitely got a crush, could it be any more obvious, ingrid never combs her hair, only shippy if you squint I guess, winter ball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:26:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28229856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseisaRoseisaRose/pseuds/RoseisaRoseisaRose
Summary: Mercedes offers to do Ingrid's hair and makeup for the ball. It's a more involved process that Ingrid was expecting.Written for the Fluffcember 2020 writing challenge, for the prompt "Hair Styling"
Relationships: Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Mercedes von Martritz
Series: Fluffcember 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2046863
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	Springtime at Solstice

“There!” Mercedes exclaimed, stepping back with a wave of her arms.

From such a dramatic flourish, Ingrid expected to see an entirely new person staring back at her from the mirror. But as far as she could see, she looked much the same. She blinked at herself, confused. Mercedes had spent close to an hour on makeup in preparation for the ball, but Ingrid was still Ingrid.

“What do you think?” Mercedes asked, clearly delighted with the result.

“I . . . look like me?” Ingrid ventured, and a reflection of Mercedes beamed over Ingrid’s shoulder.

“Exactly! You’re so beautiful already, Ingrid, I think the makeup just accentuates that,” she said brightly.

Ingrid couldn’t possibly hope to parse that logic, no matter how many times Annette and Mercedes explained it to her. Still, Mercedes was always so graceful, and delicate, and put together . . . there were some things Ingrid was willing to take on faith.

“Would you like me to do your hair?” Mercedes asked as she started to gather up her makeup supplies from her desk and put them in their appropriate drawers. Ingrid caught the scent of flowers and springtime as Mercedes leaned over her. In the dead of winter.

“I was just going to wear it back,” Ingrid said, trailing off as she looked over at Mercedes. An idea struck her. Almost shyly, she added. “Could you do it like yours?” She didn’t want to take up much more time, as the ball was starting soon, but she’d always been envious of how well Mercedes could pull off such a simple hairstyle.

Mercedes’s eyes lit up at the suggestion. “If you’d like!” she said excitedly. “Has your hair been in that braid all day? I’m sure the waves will be lovely already.”

“Ummmm,” Ingrid replied, trying to remember the last time she’d taken the braid out, but Mercedes was already digging in the lower vanity drawers for a brush . . . and another brush . . . and another brush.

Ingrid blinked in surprise at the stack of equipment piling up on the table beside her. “This is all for a ponytail?” she asked, her voice cracking slightly as she looked up at Mercedes.

“Well, I want you to look your best tonight!” Mercedes said cheerfully. She began threading her fingers through Ingrid’s hair, her fingers light and warm and soft as she began to unfurl the ends of Ingrid’s sensible braid.

“I guess you have to put the work in to get suitors to dance with you,” Ingrid said with a nervous laugh. She didn’t know why she said it. Maybe to have something to say.

“Mm, I guess,” Mercedes said. Her voice was very close to Ingrid’s ear, and soft, like flowers and springtime. Her fingers ran gently but expertly along Ingrid’s scalp. “That’s never really been my concern.” 

**Author's Note:**

> In college it was a pretty 50/50 split for whether I was Ingrid or Mercedes in this scenario, because on one hand I could use hot rollers to give you giant Farrah Fawcett curls but on the other I had absolutely no idea how a hair straightener worked.
> 
> Anyways you know Mercedes has one of those cool circular brushes that teases your hair waaaaaay out and you know Ingrid is vaguely terrified of it but also a little bit impressed. Terrified but impressed is very much the vibe for this fic, overall, I guess.
> 
> If you'd like to find more Fluffcember vignettes, you can check out [ my twitter thread ](https://twitter.com/Rose3Writes/status/1333858833576325120) of them. You can also see the full prompt list [here](https://twitter.com/doop_doop2/status/1306753380182712321)!


End file.
